What Charles Oliveira Weigh-in Means for UFC 274 and the Future

Chris Unger/Getty Images

Disaster has struck UFC 274. And the first prelim fight is still more than a day away.

Lightweight champion—excuse me, former lightweight champion—Charles Oliveira missed weight on both attempts Friday, becoming the first UFC fighter to lose a title to the weigh-in scales.

In terms of stakes or just excitement around UFC 274 in general or Oliveira’s main event with Justin Gaethje, this isn’t just air going out of a balloon. This is the Hindenburg, you know, if the Hindenburg hadn’t had any people on it.

Here’s how it all went down:

–       During morning weigh-ins, Oliveira came in at 155.5 pounds, or half a pound above the upper limit for title fights. (Non-title bouts have a one-pound grace margin, but title fights require competitors to hit it on the nose, or come in below the limit.)

–       Oliveira had one hour to lose the extra weight. After taking the full hour, an emaciated Oliveira re-emerged. He shed his shorts behind a curtain and, with coaches and commissioners lined up to check for funny business, again weighed in at 155.5 pounds.

–       At this point, Oliveira was stripped of the belt and the UFC lightweight title became vacant.

–       Oliveira and the entire MMA community stared blankly in disbelief.

–       Oliveira will forfeit a portion of his fight purse to Gaethje.

–       Oliveira will not be able to win the title back on Saturday. If he defeats Gaethje, the title will remain vacant.

–       If Gaethje, who hit his weight mark at exactly 155 pounds, will become champion if he defeats Oliveira.

Oliveira displayed confidence before and during weigh-ins, but was visibly and understandably in shock after the number was read a second time.

This is literally a first in UFC history, though there is some semi-precedence. In 2018, women’s flyweight champion Nicco Montano was hospitalized during her weight cut in advance of her UFC 228 defense against Valentina Shevchenko and was subsequently stripped of her title. But it’s not exactly the same because she never actually weighed in. 

This is not the first time Oliveira has had difficulties with the scale. However, those failures came one weight class below at featherweight. He missed in 2012 before a loss to Cub Swanson, in 2014 before beating Jeremy Stephens, in 2015 before a victory against Myles Jury, and in 2016 before a defeat at the hands of Ricardo Lamas, after which Oliveira returned to 155 pounds, where he hadn’t missed weight in his 12 previous bouts UFC 274.

Justin Gaethje makes weightChris Unger/Getty Images

What does all of this mean for UFC 274? Well, UFC executives are certainly wiping their eyes with hundred dollar bills as they watch their pay-per-view buys evaporate before their tear-stained fields of vision. This is especially true thanks to some stiff counterprogramming from its sister sport, as boxing’s pound-for-pound king Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vies for a light heavyweight title on the same evening. 

The fight itself should still be a great one. Following the weigh-in mishap, DraftKings had Oliveira as a slim -140 favorite. He’s still incredibly skilled and well-rounded. Gaethje is still a stone-cold knockout artist, with the power, patience, and takedown defense to steal opponents’ will, or consciousness, over time. But Oliveira’s not just going to roll over.

As for Oliveira, this isn’t likely to win him a lot of friends in the front office or elsewhere. On one hand, you feel bad for the guy, and it’s just half a pound. But on the other hand, why would a champion leave this to chance, knowing full well that even a few ounces can mean calamity? Mitigating circumstances notwithstanding, missing weight is one of the most unprofessional things a fighter can do. As a result, he likely won’t be immediately returned to the lightweight title picture.

Which brings us to the lightweight division as a whole. What happens now? It’s a good thing for fans that this is the best division in the UFC, so even if Oliveira wins and the title says vacant, there are plenty of options.

Gaethje (left) and Poirier in their first fightJennifer Stewart/Getty Images

For example, picture a de facto four-man tournament involving a rematch between co-No. 1 ranked Gaethje and Dustin Poirier (Poirier won the first one), then a bout between No. 3 ranked Islam Machachev and the winner of Saturday’s bout between Michael Chandler and Tony Ferguson. And if Poirier is too busy chasing Colby Covington or Conor McGregor, you have the likes of Beneil Dariush and Rafael dos Anjos waiting in the wings. Any and all of those contests would be pure, white-hot fire. 

So, with or without Oliveira, the division and the UFC march on. Oliveira himself? Less so. No matter what, he’ll have to answer questions about this for the rest of his life. It could even be career-defining. And this is the guy with the most submission wins (15) in UFC history. For a fighter as great and as tested as Oliveira, this is more than a shame. It’s a disaster.